Carbon is an attractive material for use within lithium battery systems to the accepted standard of manganese dioxide due to the potential to improve performance. However, costs associated with developing fluorinated carbon particles have to date hindered any practical development for the consumer market making them cost prohibitive.
Coal is an abundant source and cheap source of carbon, but other elements present within coal render it impractical as a viable carbon source for many commercial applications. The costs associated with purifying carbon from coal similarly hinder the use coal. In electrical systems, carbon is abundantly utilized for its conductive properties. With coal, however, the presence of other elements, such as sulphur, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen are too disruptive to allow coal to be utilized. The present invention has identified an approach that nullifies these adverse effects and allows coal to function as a carbon source in electrical applications.